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Aussie rowing crews falling behind

Jim Morton

Australian rowing continues to drift further back to the international pack after being swamped by arch-rivals New Zealand and Great Britain at the world championships in Amsterdam.

Two years out from the Rio Games, the Australian team has plenty of work to do to return to the top after failing to win any of the 14 Olympic boat events in the Netherlands.

Headline act Kim Crow went closest, taking silver as she lost her world title to fast-finishing Kiwi Emma Twigg on Sunday.

Twigg's success, capping a year-long campaign where she never lost to Crow, gave New Zealand their sixth gold, and ninth medal, for the regatta.

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They led home Team GB, the most dominant rowing nation at the 2012 London Games, who finished with four gold out of 10 medals.

Australia was credited with third on the medal table with two gold, three silver and three bronze but only four medals (one silver, three bronze) were in the stronger, Olympic events.

Para-rowers Erik Horrie, in the arms and shoulders sculls, and trunk and arms mixed sculls duo Kathryn Ross and Gavin Bellis were the Australian success stories.

Most hopes lay with Crow, who dominated the international scene in 2013, but the Victorian was no match for Twigg after being passed before the halfway mark.

Although she finished a boat length behind, Crow was well pleased after a season of experimentation.

"I feel like I've stepped up at this championship," the two-time London Games medallist said. "I've learnt what is good and what I have to work on.

"It was tough but it was one of the most enjoyable races I've ever done."

The biggest disappointments were the men's and women's eights, with both crews crashing out of the running and missing the finals in the blue-riband races.

With a few high-calibre and experienced rowers expected to return to competition next year, Australian team bosses Chris O'Brien and Drew Ginn do have positives to work with.

Most satisfying has been the rise of the women's double sculls crew of stalwart Sally Kehoe and youngster Olympia Aldersey, who took bronze on Sunday night after setting a world best time in their semi-final.

Men's duo James McRae and Sasha Belonogoff also grabbed an impressive bronze in the double scull, missing out on silver by 0.01 second after almost pipping the fading Italians.

Australia's premier men's boat - the coxless four - continue to be a work in progress as they took bronze behind Great Britain and the USA on Saturday.